


Forging Ties

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Mentors, Missing Scene, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-05-24 06:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14949386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: A series of scenes, as Mon and Leia have their lives entwine.





	Forging Ties

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Wavesinger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wavesinger/gifts).



> This story is worked without having read _Princess Leia_ , and I apologize if there is a direct contradiction. In the Legends EU canon I recall, Leia was supposed to be the youngest sitting Senator... having broken Mon's own record.

"This is my daughter, Leia," Bail said as the Senator from Chandrila stepped off the transport. "The Queen was delayed, and asked that the princess serve in her stead, with your acquiescence?" he continued on a rising note, allowing the woman a chance to refuse.

He watched his old friend, his ally since before the end of all they held dear had forced them in to the shadow games of pretending loyalty and fomenting rebellion had come about. This meeting was not without risks, for Mon Mothma had known Padmé Naberrie, better known as Amidala, as intimately as Bail had. Would she see the same things Bail did? Would she note the signs of Amidala's political acumen married to the headstrong passions of the Jedi that had been so often in her company?

Or was that merely his paranoia, as Leia's questioning and rebellious nature grew, highlighting the signs of each genetic donor in her?

Mon, for her part, seemed to be embracing the task of measuring the princess, and then she smiled, a faint lifting of her lips that nonetheless lit her eyes, and she reached both hands out to greet Leia directly. The teenager stood as tall as she could, and accepted the contact, meeting the Senator's gaze.

"I would be glad to accept the accompaniment of the heiress of Alderaan," Mon said, letting Bail breathe a fraction more easily.

"I am honored to be allowed to, Senator Mothma," Leia said with all of her charm on display. "If you will come with me, we can begin." She let go of the woman's hands and indicated the waiting speeder for their tour.

Bail watched them go, with but a small pang of something in his chest that he could not quite name.

* * *

Mon settled in the offered chair at the end of her first tour of the city, and watched as both Organas looked for the right words to begin with.

Taking a page from their mutual friend's book, she stole the opportunity. "You did not invite me here just for the vacation I needed before CorSec got too rough with me," she said. "You wanted to see what I think of Leia."

Breha smiled, and looked down a moment before meeting the woman's eyes. "I had intended to be there for the meeting, but yes, Mon. She has reached the end of my own ability to train her in politics, and neither Bail nor I wish her directly on our staffs, as we try hard to not promote nepotism like that," Breha told her. "We are hoping that one we trust, like yourself, might be willing to take her on as an intern, so she may begin to see the galactic side of things?"

"We understand, if you do not wish to do this," Bail said. "We're not asking for more than an observatory position, if that would suit you best."

"Pshh," Mon exclaimed, not indelicately at all. "Bail? Breha? You knew before I was asked what my opinion would be. I have been your ally and friend for too long for you not to," she added. "I found Leia to be very intelligent, quite spirited, and more than adequate to the needs I have for an assistant.

"The question, friends, is how much you wish her to know and learn, from me?"

On the last, she moved her eyes to Bail, a quiet understanding in the look they shared. Mon needed to know how much Leia could be trusted with, how far the girl was inclined to go on the road of treason they walked.

Bail smiled, inclining his head. "I would trust you with anything you shared with her, Mon."

"Then, when I leave here, I suppose I shall have a new staffer for, hmm, six standard months? As, Breha, I think that is all I have before you would need to have her on hand for the election season?" Mon questioned, truly smiling as she looked at the Queen.

"How did you guess?" Breha asked.

"I didn't. Leia said she had every intention of filing her intent, with or without permission," Mon answered. "I will ground her in the politics and necessity of our full positions, my friends, before she returns to you, to take Bail's place within the Senate." She reached over to the man. "You have fought so long, after all. And none of us is growing younger."

* * *

Mon had known, without doubt, just who it was that Bail had sent to fetch the Jedi.

She had listened, showing as little emotion as she could, when it was announced that the _Tantive IV_ was lost with all hands aboard via Imperial channels. She refused to give up hope, even as she and key personnel began to depart Yavin IV on the urging of Command.

She was just coming out of hyperspace when the news broke that the Senate had been formally dissolved. Talks with a strong Rebel faction were underway as the first unconfirmed reports of Alderaan's destruction came to her.

Still, she waited, refusing to give up hope. Just as she had seen the seeds of victory in a young woman named Erso, so she felt it would come to fruition in the one she had taught named Organa.

* * *

Leia had ridden the elation of survival through all the way to the point of rejoining the main body of the Rebellion. Through all of the encounters with her fellow Alderaani, she kept moving, focusing on having made certain that no more worlds would face what theirs had.

That bubble broke, the instant she was with her teacher, the woman that had given her the bare bones education of how the Galactic Empire worked. This woman did not need her to be the princess. Mon Mothma could, and would, be the port where grief could storm its way from Leia's heart for once.

"Is there any reason to hope my father was not on planet?" she asked in a small voice, even as Mon tucked her in alongside herself on the small couch.

"He left, after dispatching you to your mission, to warn the people," Mon said gently. "He would have still been there when your death was announced. And that would have required official mourning," she finished.

The dams against the tears unlocked then, but Leia was safe to cry. Mon held her close, comforting with soft sounds, and let her cry herself to sleep.

Morning would be soon enough to be Princess Organa. For now, she was Leia, and where she needed to be.


End file.
